


You Promised

by AgresteBug



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Identity Reveal, Light Angst, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 06:02:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29896710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgresteBug/pseuds/AgresteBug
Summary: His shoulders tightened, but he turned, avoiding her gaze as his fist made the briefest contact he could manage. She frowned, watching him give a flourished bow with a fake smile plastered onto his face before taking off. To anyone on the outside, with his bow and her expression, no one would ever realize something was wrong.But it was wrong, and it was all her fault.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 12
Kudos: 154
Collections: Tumblr 500 Celebration





	You Promised

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SilverMoonSky](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverMoonSky/gifts).



> Hey everyone! Here is another fic to celebrate Miraculous Fanworks Tumblr reaching 500 follows! WHOOOO! This one is for you Silv!
> 
> Thank you again to JuliaFC and sagansjagger for beta-ing this for me! ALL the loves and melty camembert hearts!
> 
> Enjoy!

Ladybug offered a tentative fist to her partner, who was still refusing to look at her. “Pound it, Chat Noir?”

His shoulders tightened, but he turned, avoiding her gaze as his fist made the briefest contact he could manage. She frowned, watching him give a flourished bow with a fake smile plastered onto his face before taking off. To anyone on the outside, with his bow and her expression, no one would ever realize something was wrong.

But it was wrong, and it was all her fault.

She tried for three days straight to reach Chat Noir, multiple times a day, nearly blowing her secret more than once as she found flimsy places to transform just to try and reach him.

As the night settled around her, she drew her knees up to her chest sighing heavily. The weight on her chest threatened to push every last ounce of air from her lungs. She smacked her head lightly against her knees over and over, knowing that she’d messed up.

She turned her gaze to the dark skyline, her frown deepening. It must have been something awful. She must have done or said something while being under the influence of the akuma’s power, something that hurt him more than anything. She had never seen that look of anger in his eyes--at least, never directed at her.

Snatching her yo-yo from her hip, she tried again, begging out loud, “Come on, Kitty please, please pick up.”

“No need.”

Ladybug screamed bloody murder, barely catching herself before she could fly off the side of the famous monument. Her voice instantly turned harsh as she righted herself and stood in a fury, glaring daggers at the idiot. “STUPID CHAT, YOU SCARED ME! YOU COULD HAVE WARNED ME!”

“The way you could have warned me the other day,” he said evenly, bright green eyes seeming to stare straight through her.

Silence thickened the air between them, neither of them able to look away from the other. Knots turned her stomach, almost seeing the way his anger flared out around him, his tail snapping behind him.

“Kitty--”

“Don’t!” he yelled, his eyes glowing against the expansive darkness around them, “You have no idea what you did to me! What I had to do!”

His hands clenched into fists at his sides, his lower lip trembling. “You promised… YOU PROMISED!”

She flinched, averting her gaze as he screamed, “LOOK AT ME!”

Her watery eyes shot straight back up to his, seeing tears falling down his face. “You… you promised…” he broke down, crouching into himself and sobbing uncontrollably.

It only took her a second to realize what he was talking about, and she tried to keep her voice from shaking, “Chat… I didn’t have a choice. The akuma was after you… she wanted to hurt you, she...”

“It was supposed to be me,” he whispered, putting his hands to the top of his head and screwing his eyes shut. “I can’t get it out of my head. Your face. The way you screamed.” His fangs dug into his bottom lip. “I had to fight you.... And I, I hurt you.”

“No, you didn’t! I’m fine, I--”

“I hit you in the back of the head with my baton,” he admitted, shaking hands covering his face. His hand clenched his suit over his heart, voice trembling with guilt and sounding as though he was having trouble taking every breath. “You crumpled to the ground… and I had to...” His voice stopped cold and he shook his head as he rushed to get the words out. “You were trying to take your earrings to Hawkmoth. I couldn’t let that happen. I couldn’t let him win, or get his hands on you. I had to take them from you to stop you and...”

She blinked, burning tears falling from her eyes. “You know.”

He nodded, letting himself fall back to sit just to try and bury himself in his knees.

Time seemed to halt in its tracks, her eyes wide as she stared down at his shaking form. Every breath tore through her like an unmerciful punch to the stomach. He knew. It was no wonder he avoided her. To find out that the girl he’d spent all his time loving was someone so awkward and weird…

Tears blurred her vision as she forced the question out, needed to know the truth if only for the sake of her sanity. “Is... Is that why you’ve been avoiding me…? Because I’m not this great hero after all? I’m just clumsy, stuttering--”

“Marinette.” Chat cut her off as he moved fluidly to stand, rushing up to her and pulling her into his chest. “You are not a great hero, you are a miraculous hero. The best there has ever been.” He pressed a kiss to the top of her head, carefully wiping the tears from her face and ignoring his own. “I wasn’t trying to avoid you. I was angry, and hurt. You promised you’d trust me to protect you…”

She put her hand over his, holding it to her face as she leaned into the soft touch. “I do trust you, with my life, my miraculous, with everything.”

“You flipped our positions at the last second. You should  _ never _ have been hit,” he whispered, his fear of almost losing her as she took off towards wherever Hawkmoth lay in hiding had come on like an instinct. It was primal and without equal. All consuming and a detriment to rational thought. There had been no fighting it.

For the first time since he’d gotten his miraculous, fear had truly snatched him in its unrelenting grasp.

“The only thing I asked you after a year of this madness was for you to let me protect you. Taking Ladybug out of the fight today made it drag longer than it should have. You promised you would trust me to watch your back. Why would you break your promise today?”

She let her head fall against his firm chest, sniffling as she admitted, “I heard you talking to Plagg in the locker room. I had gone back because I left my sketchbook, but I hid when I saw you walk in. Then the akuma appeared, you transformed and left, and when I saw you throwing yourself in front of me to save me…”

Glistening bluebell eyes full of unparalleled love caught the intense green gaze whose gentle fire matched her own. Her hands clenched into fists against his chest, her voice getting louder with each word, “I couldn’t let the boy I love keep sacrificing himself for me, Adrien. I couldn’t. I can’t bear the thought of losing either of you!”

She heard his sharp intake of breath seconds before he stopped breathing all together. She knew the moment her words registered in the raging storm of thoughts reflected in his eyes. A change shifted on his face when his body relaxed from its frozen state, seconds before their lips crashed against each other.

All of their pent up emotions, good and bad, fueled their actions. Despite the broken promises, the love they had for one another equaled no other. When they pulled back to catch their breath, their eyes met.

And lightning pierced the sky, promising a new tomorrow.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! As always feel free to leave a comment or kudos if you want! Au Revoir for now!


End file.
